Each year, Project Warm-Up provides thousands of Spokane individuals, through 53 local non-profit agencies, with items to stay warm during the bitter winter months. Throughout the year, 220 volunteers knit, crochet, “knifty” knit and quilt items. Since the program’s inception, approximately 94,000 items have been provided to individuals in need.

Teri Wallace, the Program Coordinator, shared that the youngest volunteer is eight years old and the oldest is 94. The majority of volunteers are housebound and Project Warm-Up is their way of being able to give back to the community from their home. Knowing they are helping someone in need gives the volunteers a reason to get out of bed in the morning. Other volunteers are people who live in retirement apartment complexes or assisted living facilities, are high school aged individuals who are fulfilling a community service requirement or even younger who just think it is fun.

Project Warm-up is one of the many community programs that Avista employees enthusiastically give their time and energy to support. This year, Avista employees successfully prepared 6,500 items for distribution to agencies that will get them to people in need. Over a four-day period in November, Avista employees loaded, sorted, counted, and unloaded all of the items that had been stored in one of our facilities all year.

In addition to the preparation and storage of the items, Avista also supports Project Warm-Up by providing monetary contributions to purchase the yarn the volunteers use to make thousands of beautiful warm scarves, hats, booties, youth outfits, and blankets.

Over the last 25 years, it’s wonderful to think of how much Project Warm-Up items have meant to those who create them, and to those who enjoy their warmth.

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